Countdown

HARRIS CORP. and AT&T eagerly await word - expected today or Tuesday - on which company will take home a contract bonanza worth about $1 billion over 10 years. The goods: to produce an advanced telecommunications system for the Federal Aviation Administration's air-traffic control network. It could mean hundreds of jobs for Harris, which would handle the job in Palm Bay and Novato, Calif.

In about a year, Orlando will host the most important conference in the travel and tourism industry, when the IPW annual meeting rolls into the Orange County Convention Center. For tourism and travel officials, hosting IPW - formerly known as International Pow Wow - is a little like having the NBA All-Star game or Super Bowl come to town. The event - to be held from May 30 to June 3, 2015 - will likely attract more than 6,000 tourism industry representatives, many of them travel package buyers and tour organizers.

BOX: Countdown With National Signing Day set for Wednesday, we continue our daily recruiting countdown: *DAYS REMAINING: 2 *THE LATEST: Edgewater RB/DB Quincy McDuffie is awaiting word from Kansas State after he took his official visit there the weekend of Jan. 23-25. . . . Miami is ranked eighth, Florida 10th and Florida State 13th in Rivals.com's projected top recruiting classes of 2009. *BY THE NUMBERS: 4th: The place in which McDuffie finished last year in the 200-meter dash at the Class 4A state track and field meet at Showalter Field.

Aquatica, SeaWorld's water park, took the idea of an extreme-drop slide and gave it a twist. Make that several twists. Ihu's Breakaway Falls, which opens to the public Friday, begins with a dramatic launch but instead of riders taking a straight-line path back to the ground, they follow a vertical plunge with a curving trip through tubes that follow a corkscrew pattern before splashdown. The attraction's four slides start 80 feet high. It's taller than anything else at Aquatica.

Count it Down 130 Days until the SEC spring meetings kick off in Sandestin Beach. Last year at this meeting, Lane Kiffin was told off by Steve Spurrier while they waited for an elevator. Commissioner Mike Slive had to remind his coaches it wasn't good business to bad mouth each other after Kiffin shot his mouth off on numerous occasions. Guessing that same speech won't be happening again this year, with Kiffin gone to USC. Player to Watch Kai Forbath Sr., K, UCLA Forbath won the Lou Groza Award as the nation's best kicker in 2009.

If the countdown that began Saturday continues as planned, NASA on Wednesday will shave a week off its record for launching three shuttles in a row.The planned 8 a.m. liftoff of Columbia would be the third shuttle launch of 1991 and the third in 47 days - following Atlantis' April 5 liftoff and Discovery's April 28 launch.The previous mark - 54 days - was set in 1985, the year NASA launched nine shuttle flights, the most on record.

Get out your pencils, boys and girls. Here's the guest list for this week's Late Night, David Letterman's final week on NBC.Today: As usual, this show is a repeat. Guests are Luke Perry and Jon Bon Jovi.Tuesday: Julia Child and Todd Rundgren.Wednesday: Tom Brokaw and 10,000 Maniacs.Thursday: HBO's Garry Shandling, who reportedly turned down an offer to be Letterman's successor but may follow him to CBS.Friday: Tom Hanks and sax-man David Sanborn.

We are inching closer to a handful of new theme-park attractions in Central Florida. Although grand-opening dates have not been announced, we can still share progress reports on key additions expected to arrive in coming weeks and months. Marching in What: Festival of Fantasy parade, Magic Kingdom. What's up: The new daytime parade is straight out of Fantasyland and stocked with Disney characters classic ("Peter Pan") and modern ("Tangled," "Frozen"). But the company recently showed off elaborate costumes for supporting players and floats with moving, entertaining parts.

It's New Year's Eve. You're mingling with friends, you're drinking (responsibly, we hope), and the 60-second countdown has begun. Time for the champagne, right? Stop the clock right there. As much as we love our bubbly, sometimes a new year calls for some new flavors. We asked Orlando bartenders for their favorite cocktails to spice up that first sip of 2014. But let's not forget that all-important morning after. What kicks off those hasty resolutions better than a nice Bloody Mary or mimosa on New Year's Day?

To keep the "ho-ho-ho" in the season, here five things to keep the holiday cook on schedule and full of good cheer: 1. Help the kids make treats for Santa. You think it's easy hauling toys all over the world? The big guy needs his strength. Leave him some vegetable sticks and a sweet treat from the bakery. And don't forget a bit of hay and shredded carrots for Prancer and Dancer and Co.! 2. Prepare an extra food gift for last-minute giving. At one time or another, we've all been in that awkward position of receiving a gift from someone we mistakenly left off our gift list.

Pace yourself, folks. December is bursting at the seams with things to do and see. From the arts to sports, boat parades to theme parks, we have one suggestion for each day from Dec. 1 all the way to Jan. 1. Sunday, Dec. 1: The Messiah Chorale Society's 41 s t annual presentation of Handel's "Messiah" will be at 3 p.m. at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, 401 W. Livingston St., Orlando. The concert is free - no tickets are required. Doors open at 2:15 p.m., and concertgoers are asked to bring a nonperishable food item to be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

WHAT: Two live productions are closing up shop this weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Saturday marks the end of the road for "Disney Channel Rocks" (pictured), a rolling-stage show featuring music from the network's TV series, and "Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun," a traditional parade stocked with characters from animated films such as "The Incredibles," "Up" and "Toy Story. " WHEN: Final showtimes for "Disney Channel Rocks" are 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Disney World is pulling the plug on two of its live-entertainment options at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park next month. The last day for the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun parade and the Disney Channel Rocks street show will be April 6, a Disney World spokeswoman confirms. Countdown to Fun features characters from animated films such as "Toy Story," "Monsters, Inc.," "The Incredibles," "Up," "A Bug's Life" and "Ratatouille. " It debuted in early 2011, taking over for a similar presentation known as Block Party Bash.